Tekumo shibori was the topic this weekend as we gathered for an in-studio workshop here. It was great to see both new and repeat participants! There was so much to accomplish in a short amount of time but I have to say that the outcomes were wonderful! A large part of my fascination with shibori is the ability to create work based on traditional practice and expand it to work that vibrates in the present.I did that with my arashi shibori practice and the creation of shibori ribbon. It was with that mind that I practiced tekumo shibori and used it to make sculptural forms, flowers, and necklace pieces. During the pandemic shutdown, I offered a zoom tekumo workshop but this weekend in studio workshop was far more effective I think. It takes some practice to get your hands and the materials to cooperate in the beginning, but with a little time and patience everyone succeeded. My goal was to teach the basic technique and dye it in a non-traditional way. My hope is that participants will be excited about the result in a way that they will further experiment and make it their own in some way. A few photos from the time we spent together:
Pieces were made using silk organza. We base dyed, bound, discharged, overdyed, steam set, and dried the pieces before removing the binding threads. Additionally, the indigo vats were too irresistible! Some brought prepared items to indigo dye as well. Lots going on! This week is devoted to September moons-later than usual due to everything going on here so look for them at the end of this month. Thank you to everyone who participated and spent their precious time with me this weekend. It was a pleasure.
I’ve been in a clearing out mode since I was looking for something and couldn’t find it! As I was looking I decided to let go of some of my pleated silk stash pile (don’t worry- I still have some!) and make a few large scrap bags for all you creative souls. They are fun assortments that you will find useful for embellishing, stitching, beading, and flower making. As I went through the boxes, I remembered things that I made in the past with some of this, putting the extra into a scrap box for “later”. Specially priced at $30 for a gallon size bag full of inspiration, texture, and color.
The listing is here and includes a short video of what is in one of the collections. They are all different. Only 4 though… Ribbon scrap bags are back in stock too as I was cleaning out that box as well and the link for that is here.
In case you were wondering…. the lost was found! Yay!
I love disassembling a kimono and learning new things. I always learn something when taking one apart. This past week we went by the local buddhist temple to see their summer festival, taiko, and bon odori (community dancing for summer obon). Obon is a Buddhist celebration honoring one’s ancestors. Of course all the usual summer festival foods were in attendance. It was a hot day but there were some areas to get out ot the sun and take a break. I brought my sun umbrella for extra measure and was glad for it. Doing my part to avoid more skin biopsies as one does when you get older and have grown up with red hair, freckles, and green eyes. The festival had a few vendor booths and I found a some treasures quite unexpectedly! One was a fairly common cotton kasuri kimono in indigo stripes ($5!). It was quite heavy due to the fairly thick lining material-almost a canvas! The hem also had cotton batting padding the edge. This was definitely a kimono worn on colder days and in the winter. As I took it apart, I noticed the hand stitching and the construction. Each time I do this I feel like I am communing with the sewer, the weaver, the dyer- all who took part in its creation. Each one is unique to the makers. The lining was what was intriguing me the most. It was clear that this was all natural dyed-including the kasuri striped outer cloth. There was also a bit of thin light indigo blue cotton in the lining as well. In some areas (the body) the thick reddish lining was even doubled. This was a new one on me, hence the winter kimono thoughts. Separating out the three fabrics I at first thought that the reddish cloth was madder dyed. But it had quite a pink cast to it. The photos here look very orange but were taken in direct sun when the cloth was wet after washing. Talking to my friend Richard about it he suggested it was benibana. After looking at a number of photos, I tend to agree. Apparently it is very sought after and after reading how the red dye is produced I can see why. I did not know this! All the signs on this piece point to 1940’s or so. maybe a tad earlier. Not a collectible piece by any means but cloth with a purpose calling to be reused.
In any case, I don’t think it is madder, but definitely natural dyed. Benibana red comes from safflower blossoms. Typically it dyes yellow unless the red dye of the flower is extracted. “Hanamochi” (flower rice cakes) are formed with the petals and are easily transported this way. The cakes are then washed in cold water to rid them of the yellow pigment. What is left contains the red and it is extracted using straw ash lye. What a process! I will use this fabric in future takaramono fabric packs. It makes a great contrast with the indigo fabrics.
Colors in photos can be deceiving. This is really what the color looks like
I decided to put the kasuri to immediate use. It will be one of the moons for the July Moon Circle.
I like doing a discharged moon every now and then and I like the way these turned out. Taking away color from the outside places the focus on the kasuri. It also had me thinking of reducing, taking something away. As things are removed, other things come into focus. I’m thinking a lot about reduction these days. How less and less becomes more. Another treasure found at the opportunity table ($1!) was an obi with an unusual (to me) type of woven material. Unweaving an edge, I found the thick yarn almost sakiori-ish. Every now and then the yarn (almost a cording!) had orange thread wound onto it reminding me of a pipe cleaner without the wire. I think the orange and the warp are silk-the rest cotton. I had to try dyeing it and I love the effect.
One dip into the vat dyed the cloth quite a dark color with the orange parts going even darker. You can imagine what the other moon will be this month. I have just enough for the number of subscriptions this month so if any new folks join in July I will have to substitute with something else.
The other rescued item I bought ($2) was a staghorn fern that had been peeled off a much larger one. Poor thing. It was really drooping and calling out for someone to adopt it. I took it home and wired it to something I have other airplants and spanish moss attached to. By the next day it was completely perked up! I’m looking forward to seeing it persist.
Also an unexpected gift arrived and was much appreciated. Many ,many thanks to Clark who put this together and his wife Sharon.
A few other things… Received news of the passing of Gerry- a contractor who became a friend as the two of us painted this old house as well as transformed the lawn into a drought garden a number of years ago. It was a big project and Gerry with his dog Jill were a daily presence here for more than six months. We worked hard and slow and accomplished the project. We have missed Gerry since and were sorry to have lost touch. Plus the gal (Maria) who worked here while my kids were growing up had a major medical issue and was in a coma for over two weeks. Miracuously, she came out of it and has had a number of other complications but is now in nursing care and rehab. We are visiting her regularly and hoping she can make a recovery that includes her return to independent living. We are setting up an old iphone for her as she cannot remember her code to open her current phone. Life is complicated sometimes! Plus Bella the dog is 14! Here below she is just 2!
I am compelled to do a quick post here based on some communication I had from the last blog post. I don’t want to forget this topic and get distracted by all the other things that I’m doing-so here goes…
Nakabayashi san who is a kimono expert (and accompanied us on the tour from Tokyo to Kyoto), sent me a message regarding the last blog post. She also sent me a photo of herself wearing a lovely kimono with a very, very special obi. She knows her textiles and comes across special pieces where others pass them by. I’m not sure if she got this directly from the weaver or came across it in a gallery or shop and recognized the weavers work. She has told me several stories like this.
Nakabayashi san wears an obi woven by National Living Treasure, weaver Yoshinori Tsuchiya
The obi she is wearing is woven by National Living Treasure Yoshinori Tsuchiya. He uses kusakizome (plant dyed) to dye the silk warp. You can see some of his work here. He weaves a silk gauze like fabric called monsha and is from Gifu Prefecture. He is currently 69.
Perhaps this post is really just for me to reference later, it’s too good to keep just for myself.
That is all this evening. Working on orders, didn’t get too far today because my outdoor burner for discharging went down and had to replace it. All back together now and tomorrow is another day.
Tekumo is fun once you have mastered the movement of your hands. It’s especially exciting with silk organza that takes on not only vibrant colors but also crisp shapes. Come join us to explore the possibilities! All the pieces are in place and a date has been scheduled.
Saturday September 24 & Sunday September 25 Day One: 10 AM-4 PM (with lunch/rest break included) Day Two: 10 AM -12 Noon
Since returning from Japan, I’ve had lots of catching up to do. From unpacking. Sending out orders for foraged fabric, catching up on moon making and the obvious jet lag(always worse coming back than going). Not to mention the house, animals, and garden-completely overgrown with much needed weeding.
I’m getting at all of it a little bit at a time.
But right now, I want to catch up on the cocoon harvest at the Higashi farm. Last post took you up to pouring the 45,000 silkworms onto the frames for cocooning. The next thing to do was to hang the frames. They are hung in pairs-one below the other.
It takes two! Hang the top one first. Lift and hang second one below. This will be done with all 50 plus frames. The frames turn so silkworms who crawl to the top and haven’t started a cocoon move to the bottom and will crawl up, eventually cocooning.
Tarps were added below the frames in case any dropped off and are re-added to the frames. It takes about three days for a silkworm to complete their cocoon. After about five to six days all who’ll complete their cocoons.
A team returned to remove the frames and looked at them in strong light -removing any cocoons that were not up to quality standards. the frames are then fed through a machine that removes the ‘blaze’ (outside silk the silkworm spins to suspend the cocoon in the cell) and pops out the cocoons.
Nobue has photos of this here as well as a blog post about their cocoon season. They will do this one more time by fall.
Checking cocoons-photo from Ton Cara workshopRemoving cocoons from the frames. All the good work! Photos from Nobue. See her post linked above.
It’s such an amazing process and such attention and dedication has been made to preserve this tradition. Her reeled silk is highly sought after.
Some of you may follow Fiore Murai on FB. She uses Nobue’s reeled silk as warp to weave her kudzu fibers. Nobue custom reels the weight needed for her specific warp. Fiore and her husband recently wore beautiful kimono at their son’s wedding that they had woven and sewed See below on the right). So amazing to me. The kudzu fiber is hand processed. Here’s a link her website… and workshops. I hope to visit here and her studio next trip.
What a labor of love and passion for textile traditions.
Those of you who ordered the foraged fabric packs have received them. Thank you for the emails and your kind notes. The remaining moon circle sets are being finished up today. They feature some interesting fabrics recently collected.
I enjoyed collecting some new fabrics to use for upcoming moons. If you want to sign up for the moon circle, you can read about it and sign up here.
New takaramono treasure packs have also been assembled using fabrics recently collected. I just finished assembling a group for orders. All include a variety of beautiful fabrics, a moon, and a bit of thread to get you started. I’m including a little bit of red into these packs. I’ve found I love including a glimpse of it here and there. Some favorite “traveling companions” to the treasure packs are additional moons, indigo cloth in 3 shades, mawata moons and other delicacies in the shop.
I’ve also listed the moon scarf in the shop- a one of a kind piece that uses many of the moons from last year’s moon circle. I took it with me to Japan as a “show and tell” piece for our artist share day at the dye studio. What fun that was! So many talented people! You can still join the moon circle and create your own mooncloth!
I’m thinking of you all on this holiday weekend, hoping you get relief from the heat, shelter from the storm, visits with friends and family, or simple quiet time for yourself. May Peace and health find us all.
Some last minute doings in preparation for the Silk Study tour has kept me busy. There are several pieces I am finishing to take along with me. Usually, I like to take something I have made as omiyage but this time, so much has been going on I haven’t been able to do that desire justice. As time nears I shed many of those small things and accept it all for how it is-it’s just fine.
I have been considering how and where I want to blog while I am gone and I’ve pretty much decided to abandon using my free WP tour blog I started many years ago. I was looking it over and I just can’t stand the ads on the free blog so will just use this place (my main place anyway) as a place to record the tour. It already costs plenty to keep this site active, ad free, and juiced up with enough memory storage for all the visual content so no need to add to this. I was surprised to see the old tour site had all the youtube vids removed as I guess the free sites no longer play nice with youtube without a bounty. So much has changed with blogging over time I sometimes struggle to keep up with it all!
Here are a few views of a moon scarf I’ve been working on. Made it an “idea sample” for those in the moon circle subscription group. The base is recycled kimono lining silk habutai I indigo dyed. I didn’t photograph the back side (I think I did in a previous post) but I stitched it flat before folding it over(so the edges meet in the center back). I hate to cut any selvedges off! I used silk thread to stitch the center back through to the front invisibly. If you have been receiving moons, you will recognize many of them here.
Speaking of the moon circle subscription, April moons all went out with a note advising that May moons will ship with June moons due to the silk study tour so I hope that is ok with everyone. Just a reminder…
I also finished this piece which again is all indigo dyed. The cloth is all silk tsumugi-although all panels (4) are different. This time I tried out putting in some darts to get a nicer fit and after giving it a test run wearing it to a get together, I like it. This is the third one of these I’ve made. Quite simple and easy to wear-great for warm summer days in Japan and very comfortable.
It was artichoke day again today- the second picking of my very prolific stand of artichoke plants. Never had to water them at all this year due to all our rain. Very delicious! I need to spread the plants out after I cut them back the end of this season.
I’m wondering how the garden will be when I get back? It’s already a jungle out there and no time to really tame it before I leave!
I’m excited to get recharged and inspired as we travel through Japan and explore not just the textile stops, but also to absorb the familiar sights, sounds, and feelings I have whenever I am in Japan. The challenges of this trip have already opened up new future possibilities as challenges will do when you work through them and discover solutions. It’s a good reminder. Life is like that. In fact, that’s how this whole tour began… with a willingness to jump in, take a risk and act on the unknown opportunity placed in my path. So many great things start this way. I’m very grateful. Take the chance. Sometimes you have to recognize an opportunity even when they aren’t always obvious! The Art of Noticing applies here.
silk mawata moons are furry!the obi liningsilky moons
These special moons are made with an unexpected cloth-a coarse homespun cotton cloth that had a layer of silk mawata stretched across it. I wondered…
Mawata is made from silk cocoons that are softened with hot water and soda ash before stretching them out on a frame. We also know them here as silk hankies. They can be used to spin silk yarn or are often used as quilt batting by stretching 50-100 cocoons into a thick, yet lightweight, layer of wonderful silk batting!
After asking around, the best answer I could find was that the silk mawata was there to help keep the two cloths together so the exterior and interior fabrics wouldn’t slip around. Another use for silk!
On the shibori side of things, Asiadyer sent me a couple of images of some shibori scraps he came across. They are a great little study in double arashi. Wrapping my mind around the concept, and the cloth around a pole, I made an attempt. I will make some adjustments and have another go at it. The result I got started out ok, but the second wrapping did not achieve the result I was looking for. Even still, some shibori was made!
sample detailoverall imagemy first wrapsecond wrap #1second wrap #2#2 another angle
These things drive me a bit crazy until I figure them out…
And yes, it’s February! We welcome the approaching Spring, warmer weather, and February moons for the circle. I chose and cut the fabric today. One is some fabulous kimono silk woven and dyed on Amami Oshima. Indigo, tannin and mud dyed then painstakingly woven. Even a small scrap is a treasure. The other is the leftover cloth from a dress I made from a repurposed meisen silk kimono a few years ago. Links to my previous posts about dyeing and weaving on Amami oshima here and here.
treasured clothmeisen silkAmami moonMeisen moon
If you want to sign up for the 2023 Moon Circle…here’s the link.
A while back I hosted a zoom workshop where participants and I refashioned a kimono into a more easily wearable garment by shortening and removing sleeves.This project leaves you with some fabric to use later. One of the pieces I reworked was a wonderful hemp unlined summer kimono that was kasuri woven with a wonderful 40’s or 50’s design like meisen. This very bold and colorful piece is now wearable as a lightweight over-jacket. The leftover cloth was set aside until now. I did a little test to see if I liked it to start out the January moon circle. I LOVED IT! wow…what fun. Laying out the cloth for the moons, each one is uniquely fun! Being a bit of an open weave I wondered if the indigo would leak a bit into the moon-it didn’t. And the cloth took the dye beautifully without completely overwhelming the design. Each of course is a bit different.
The other smaller moon this month is indigo dyed onto some beautiful silk jacquard I had been stingily hoarding since I was at the end of the bolt. It has a delicate chrysanthemum (kiku) pattern on a slightly off white (natural) silk. The weight is light- like for a nagajuban (silk under kimono).
While you can join the moon circle anytime, if you want the January moons featured here you need to sign up prior to Jan 30. Thanks to everyone who is currently subscribed and especially to those who joined for a second time!
The madder I dug is still drying since it’s been so wet here lately. Maybe it will figure in February or March moons. It’s still cold here (for us!) we’re lucky if it gets to 60 and the nights are in the low 40’s. The garagio is still cold and wet! Looking forward to the forecast of ten sunny dry days ahead! Hopefully we will continue to get some rain in the next couple of months. I hope to get at some of the weeds outside. There is a forest of cassia seeds sprouting! Yikes!
On another note, I got up at 2 AM on Tuesday to hear Nobue Higashi’s sericulture lecture on Zoom. It was very interesting! I saw a mulberry field machine that helps pick the mulberry. It claims to be able to do the work of 10 people in collecting mulberry for feeding the silkworms. She also mentioned and showed some images of a machine that is kind of like a ferris wheel for silkworms. As the bins of worms circulate, feeding is easily done to many worms in a smaller space. I understand that the reason these are not in wide use these days is that the parts are not available to repair them when they break down. Hirata san and I once visited a sericulture farm about ten years ago that used this method. It was interesting and I have since wondered why it’s not used more. She also had a nice section on the commercial hatching and raising of the young silkworms (before they are distributed to the farmers). I knew about this but had never seen the inside of these facilities. If you are interested in this lecture series, you can still sign up (see last post for details).
I’m really looking forward to meeting up with Nobue and all the artisans along our way on the Silk Study Tour to Japan in May. Join us?
First, last Sunday at Phil’s rehearsal the sound guy Kevin was playing Ken Nordine through the system during setup. I was fascinated! Never knew anything about him nor had I heard his albuns. But I did know that voice- and you probably do too. So I went down the rabbit hole to learn more. Phil bought us a turntable over the holidays so we could enjoy the hundreds of vinyls we have. It has been so much fun! We not only enjoy the music, the memories invoked, but the album covers and inserts! Took me back to my HS bedroom and the basements of friends on a Friday or Saturday night. So now I am on the search for Ken Nordine’s album “Colors” which is what Kevin was playing. Some of you may know it but it was new to me and ever so fun! Among other things, Ken Nordine is known for his “word jazz” recordings. His voice is like silk and so communicative! CDs can be found but albums at an affordable price less so. But I am patient… we will see. Until then, I have downloaded the record. Also found the accompanying book for a few bucks. Maybe the grandson will learn colors ala Ken Nordine! One of the people in the audience that day was Carol who by a very weird set of circumstances was a PE and dance instructor at Burbank High when ny SIL (who lives in NZ) and was her PE teacher! Carol and I got to talking and she had this album (Colors) and used it for improv with her dancers back then. She could even recite some of the words all these years later. Great conversation. She’s somewhere in her 80’s now. Colors…
OK- the next wonderful thing is going to take a bit of explaining and some links for you to check out. If you don’t know of Nobue Higashi, she is the sericulturist we have been visiting since 2015 on the Silk Study Tour. Previous to that, we had been visiting Koyata san’s home where he kept a small cocoonery (I now think he is over 100!). Nobue san’s enterprise has grown and her and her husband may be the youngest serious sericulture farmers in Japan now! They are keeping tradition alive while at the same time creating a very niche market for her customizable and hand reeled silk from the cocoons they raise. It’s a HUGE endeavor that has taken her 20 years to get to this place. Her history is fascinating! She is giving an online zoom series of 7 lectures on sericulture that begin January 17th. Her lecture series will cover domestic sericulture, it’s history in Japan- mainly focusing on Gunma Prefecture and the connections to Yokohama as it relates to silk exports, silk cocoons and the variety of strains, the history of silk reeling, silk technologies and how they changed and expanded silk in the industrialization of Japan, hand reeling (her specialty) from the Edo period to now, and the cultural aspects of all of the aforementioned! I’m sure I left out something! Of course the lectures are on JST so for me here they are at 2:30 AM PST- but you will be able to access them for three weeks afterwards. The series cost is ¥14,000 which is about $103 USD. If you are interested in the series, you can sign up here. I had to actually send an email so they could prepare a payment request as the website seems to only allow signups inside Japan. Email is seraph(at)tokai.or.jp
The series is in Japanese but they may try to get some notes done in English afterwards to accompany the lectures. In any case, I am signed up!
If you want a little encouragement, they have shared this hour long bio on Nobue and how she came to do this miraculous thing… then visit the vimeo link. The password is “silkworm” and it does have English subtitles. They have allowed me to share this with you in hopes of spreading this important knowledge. The series is being hosted by these folks who order custom reeled silk from Nobue which they use as warp for their beautiful woven kudzu cloth. All of this is a labor of love!
Here are some photos of our visits with Nobue and her husband over the years…
We can’t wait to see her again in May on the Silk Study Tour to Japan! We will have a workshop with her at Ton-cara where everyone gets to reel some silk and make silk mawata.
Shibori Girl 